Since March of that year, 1744, France and Britain had been on opposite sides in the War of the Austrian Succession, and François enrolled as surgeon aboard the Le Havre privateer Cerf Volant.

After some months in British captivity, during which he acquired an excellent grasp of the English language, Thurot met fellow prisoner Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet, Duke of Belle-Isle.

[6] According to the 1791 biography which is the principal source for this article, the vengeful François went back into privateering in 1755, after France and Britain had again come into conflict over their colonies in America; this may be untrue, as the war was confined to the west side of the Atlantic until May 1756.

In that month, thanks to Fouquet's influence, Thurot was appointed captain of the French Navy corvette Friponne, and by the time he returned to port in September for repairs, is said to have captured or sunk some sixty British vessels.

Desages), and two corvettes, Bastien and Gros Thomas, he sailed from St. Malo on 16 July, and renewed his campaign against British shipping, with the ultimate aim of disrupting a convoy from Russia as it passed the Orkney Islands in early autumn.

Very early in the cruise, Bastien was captured; shortly afterwards, on 25 July, while still in the English Channel, the remaining vessels, with a small prize in company, met the brand-new British frigate HMS Southampton (Capt.

Arriving at Bergen on 30 October, he attempted unsuccessfully to obtain a second vessel to replace the Chauvelin, and tried to avoid diplomatic problems, while simultaneously talking-up the morale of his tired crew.

With the crew on short rations, Belle-Isle struggled back to Norway, but the Captain, fearing mass desertion, avoided Bergen and pressed on to Gothenburg, which he reached on 1 February 1758.

Robert Craig), accompanied by two small reconnaissance vessels, went out to track down the intruder, catching sight of the Belle-Isle off Red Head (between Arbroath and Montrose) early on the morning of 27 May.

As the Belle-Isle easily outgunned the British vessel, he continued the attack even after discovering the true nature of his opponent, and action commenced about 8 a.m. Dolphin fought alone for about an hour and a half, suffering considerable damage; and when Solebay arrived, Marlow was no longer able to offer much help.

By this time, Royal Navy vessels had been sent out specifically to stop the Belle-Isle, but by taking advantage of winds and mists he avoided four potentially lethal encounters, and headed northward in late August.

Revisiting Shetland, François learned of the scale of the forces sent out against him, and headed for the Faroe Islands to replenish his supplies, before sailing southward round the west of the British Isles.

Near Ireland, Belle-Isle sprang a leak, so, pausing only to take a couple of brigantines off Tory Island, Thurot hastened to the shelter of Lough Swilly, County Donegal.

Recruiting was initially very slow, as the British had had a great deal of success against the Dunkirk privateers in the early years of the war; also Thurot had legal problems over money he owed in Holland.

Intelligence reports suggested that the squadron was to attack the Hanoverian town of Stade and link with French forces pushing northward, but the latter were defeated at Minden on 1 August.

In the last week of August, the squadron, with some 1300 infantry troops led by Brigadier General Flobert crammed in alongside the sailors, moved from the harbour at Dunkirk to stand just offshore, ready to sail at a few hours' notice.

The British were most concerned with the main fleet at Brest, which they believed would now be used to invade Wales or western Scotland, but a Royal Navy squadron under Commodore William Boys was also blockading Dunkirk.

Eventually, after a storm blew the British ships off-station, Thurot's squadron got away on 15 October and spent the next night at Ostend, dropping off a cheeky letter to the Belgian press, announcing that they were heading northward.

Gale-force winds then drove the squadron rapidly northward, a fact which appeared to be confirmed by another letter published in the Brussels Gazette, dated 21 October, allegedly from aboard the Belle-Isle.

Thurot, after displaying the written orders stating that he, not Flobert, was in command of the mission, made a counter-proposal, that supplies should be obtained by making raids on the British coast.

About 11 February the Amarante lost contact with the squadron off Barra Head in the Outer Hebrides (eventually running aground near St. Malo, scarcely seaworthy);[15] at some point the Belle-Isle’s rudder was broken.

After mooring on 16 February in Claggain Bay, Islay, the squadron obtained desperately needed provisions, including oats and some cattle (possibly on French credit, rather than with cash—contemporary sources disagree[16]).

At about sunrise the leader of the British squadron, Æolus caught up with the Maréchal de Belle-Isle and battle began (within sight of the Mull of Galloway and Jurby Head on Man).

News reports claimed that aboard the Belle-Isle was found a young woman from Paddington, whom Thurot had met in London a few years previously, and had accompanied him on all his subsequent adventures—presumably the origin of the story of Miss Smith.

John Francis Durand was in the shops by June,[18] in two editions priced at 1s or 6½d; sadly, despite the author's claims to have known Thurot for years, the work consisted mostly of old news stories and outright fabrications.

[21] François' wife Henriette died in 1797, and in 1823 Cécile-Henriette, who had married one Pierre Garnier,[1] gave to the Town Hall of Nuits Saint-Georges a portrait of her father in the uniform of a commodore,[16] believed to be the basis of the engraving which illustrates this article.